Temi Fagbenle of the Toronto Tempo arrives at the arena before the inaugural game against the Washington Mystics last Friday. Sephora signed up as the team's founding sponsor.Mark Blinch/Getty Images
There was a time when people were shy to talk about periods and the products women and girls use to prepare for that time of the month.
That’s not the impression you get at a Toronto Tempo game, where you may see the Tampax logo on the players’ warm-up shirts, around their home court or on the basketball nets. A photo montage of the team’s luxe new locker room inside Coca-Cola Coliseum on its Instagram page even had Tampax boxes tastefully placed on shelves.
It’s one example of the corporate activations you might notice as you watch Canada’s first WNBA team in its arena or on TV this season, or while surfing its social-media channels. The Tempo have 17 partners so far in this first season, although not all have been announced yet. The team’s sports sponsorships spread across many industries and look anything but traditional.
“Seeing a new team in the WNBA expand into Canada is powerful, and there’s a momentum that will come with it that we wanted to be at the forefront of from Day 1,” said Chelsey Harshman, senior director for North America Tampax.
“We’re ready to move with the Tempo into this new era where brands and athletes can openly talk about women’s needs – which includes periods – and help remove the stigma to ensure that periods are never a barrier to her participating and unleashing the confidence that we know comes from sport.”
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Tampax and the Tempo will also work together on youth programming with Lay-Up, a charitable basketball organization.
“We have long been in the business of confidence, and sports is such a visible place where confidence matters,” added Harshman.
The Tempo have had a surge of interest from sponsors wanting to get in early with the new expansion team, and onto “the rocket ship that is the WNBA,” as the Tempo’s chief revenue officer Lisa Ferkul describes. While new, the team arrives with a leg up on other emerging Canadian women’s sports properties because it’s joining an established league that is entering its 30th season, experiencing huge growth in attendance, viewership, engagement and franchise valuations.
Ferkul said brands had been calling the Tempo about sponsorships before the Tempo even made her employee No. 3 in August, 2024, just a few months after the WNBA awarded Toronto the franchise. She brought two decades of experience in partnerships, including a decade with Scotiabank and then as chief commercial officer at Golf Canada.
Allison Litzinger, senior vice-president of marketing for Sephora Canada, was one of those early callers. The beauty retailer quickly became the team’s founding sponsor.
Its sponsorship focuses on inclusion, diversity and belonging. Sephora branding adorns the Tempo jersey, and its arena, from the court to the hallway where players enter to show off their fashion on home game days, or the microphones they use in press conferences. Sephora also provided a “glam space” for the players’ hair and makeup needs on media day. The partnership is visible in community activations too, and in Sephora stores.
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Ferkul said Litzinger’s vision for Sephora Canada and the Tempo inspired her U.S. counterparts at Sephora to do a deal with the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries and with Unrivaled too, the popular off-season three-on-three league where many WNBA players play.
Reitmans, the Canadian women’s clothing brand, was another welcome phone call for Ferkul. The clothier, in its 100th year, wanted to reimagine its identity and saw opportunity with the Tempo.
Reitmans has branding in Toronto’s arena and is the presenting sponsor of the Rhythm Section, the Tempo dance team. The company designed custom uniforms for the female members of the co-ed dance team, under its activewear banner, Hyba. Reitmans is also curating outfits for Tempo executives.
“Inaugural seasons set the tone – they’re when culture forms and attention is at its highest,” said Isabelle Bonin, vice-president of marketing for Reitmans.
“For us, it’s a way to connect with a new generation of women in a space that feels current and relevant, not forced.”
Although many of the Tempo’s brands are female-focused, not all are, and in fact that strategy wasn’t top of mind for Ferkul.
She points to a deal with Johnsonville, the popular sausage brand, which was keen to position itself within the emerging culture ecosystem of women’s pro sports in Canada. She said it will lean in on the marketing idea of girl dads, especially around Father’s Day, and the theme of grilling and viewing parties.
The Tempo did a collaboration with Lego when they put out their schedule, communicating the teams and dates via an animated Lego video.
Fans at Friday’s inaugural game might have seen the Tempo’s own Sprite can – the iconic green soda can emblazoned with the team’s Bordeaux-coloured logo.
They may also have noticed the presence of another founding partner, CIBC. The deal has many facets, including a Day 1 campaign. It focuses on fans from the inaugural season, and on the Canadians who blazed trails in women’s basketball, like Sylvia Sweeney and Tamara Sutton-Brown, who attended the first game.
Intuit TurboTax Canada and FanDuel are also partners. Instacart is the title sponsor of the Canadian broadcasts.
GoodLife Fitness is the team’s official gym partner, another Canadian brand making its entry into women’s sports. As part of the deal, it helped create the team’s weight room inside Coca-Cola Coliseum.
While 17 partners seems like a lot, Ferkul says the philosophy actually has been “fewer, bigger, better.”
“A lot of sports properties have many more partners, but we don’t want to dilute value or put our partners in a sea of logos,” she said.
She has to balance revenue targets with moral clarity, making sure a partner’s values align with the Tempo’s.
Exclusivity is huge – being the team’s official bank or beauty partner. But Ferkul said partners also find it appealing to capitalize on this being “Canada’s team,” so can step outside the traditional marketing radius and engage customers from across the country.
Research done by Canadian Women in Sport in 2024 showed that when fans of women’s sports see a brand sponsoring their favourite team, they’re more likely to take notice of that brand, to consider them for their next purchase, and to feel more favourably about that brand. Ferkul says that tidbit goes a long way with sponsors.
“Outside of the cultural relevance that basketball brings, the rocket ship that this league is on, the bespoke opportunity to be part of an inaugural team and build something from scratch, it’s also that fan,” said Ferkul. “Because at the end of the day, they are also accountable to driving business for their brands.”